Removing Tulips After Flowering

Not sure what to do once tulip blooms are finished.

Removing tulips after flowering. About 6 weeks after your tulips bloom your plant may turn yellow or brown at the ends. After a week or two the remaining foliage will die back and slowly turn a yellowish brown color. After its blooming period the leaves of your tulip will take about 6 weeks to yellow and die. Tulip care after blooming removal of the spent flowers as soon as they begin to wilt prevents seeds from forming allowing the plant to store energy for future years instead of wasting it on seed.

Either trim off only the brownish sections or cut the leaves at the base of the stem based on personal preference. In this time the bulb is gathering the energy it needs from the sun in order to bloom in the next spring season. Deadhead to prevent seed production and wait until foliage turns yellow before lifting the bulbs about six weeks after flowering if you need to lift earlier place in trays until the leaves become yellow and straw like. What to do with potted tulip bulbs after flowering.

The first step is to cut off the flowers but not the flower stalks of potted tulips. The alternative to discarding old bulbs and replacing with new is to lift and dry the tulip bulbs after flowering. This keeps the tulip from creating a seed head but allows the foliage and stems to remain. Laura from garden answer demonstrates how to care for tulip bulbs so they come back year after year.

Continue to water and feed potted tulip until stalks become dry and shriveled. Once all the leaves have died you can dig the bulb from the ground or pot. As it does it is then safe to cut the tulips back completely to the ground. Cut the flower stem at the base with a sharp knife or snap it off by hand when the tulip flower fades.

When this happens you can trim the leaves. Wait for them to die which approximately takes 6 weeks. 2 wait until the tulip foliage yellows and dies before attempting to dig up the bulb. They should turn dry and brown.